The operation of plowing or tilling the land is relatively simple when the land has no crop, as where tilling is done before the planting of the seeds of an annual crop. However, when dealing with perennials or long-lived crops, such as vine and orchard crops, the tilling must be done in such a manner as not to uproot the vine or tree or damage the roots of the vine or tree.
Heretofore, the tilling has either been done by hand, which is arduous, or by the use of a so-called French plow, which can be retracted automatically. However, the tractor driver has to turn around constantly from looking ahead to looking behind in order to steer the tractor properly while maintaining the proper lateral distance from the vines. It is not at all rare for the operator when plowing a substantial area to uproot a few vines or trees, and thereby to counteract much of the value of the tilling operation. Plowing is also difficult along a fence because of the fence posts of a wire fence.
Various devices have been tried in an attempt to replace the French plow with something better, but up to now no such device has been sufficiently successful to gain general recognition. The devices have not prevented the undesirable uprooting, have not been sufficiently trustworthy or automatic, and have not accomplished the end desired.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a tiller that can be used in vineyards and orchards and similar environments for accomplishing the desired tilling without damage to the crop being tilled.
Another object of the invention is to provide an automatically retractable tiller which does not require any manual action by the tractor operator in order to prevent damage to the vines, or trees, or other crop being tilled.
Another object of the invention is to provide a tiller which can easily be mounted on the side of the tractors now in use, practically all of which have brackets ready to accept side mounted attachments.